When Gates was just 15-years-old, he was caught hacking into a major corporation’s computer and as a consequence he was forced to give up computing for an entire year. Gates, now 60, is co-founder of , a philanthropist, and investor. He sits on Microsoft's Board of Directors and is a technology advisor to the company.

Which other ex-hackers made the list of billionaires? Just to be clear on the term, a hacker is a person who uses computers or other electronic devices to gain unauthorized access to data.

Steve Jobs would be on the current billionaires list if he were still alive. The legendary co-founder of Apple was a phone phreak (telephone hacker) back in 1971. Jobs' widow -- Laurene Powell Jobs -- is on the current list of billionaires, with a net worth of $16.7 billion.

Most hackers don't get caught. The Forbes 2016 list of billionaires is dotted with well known software and technology company founders. It's hard to know which ones - if any - may have been hackers at some point.

Some billionaires on the 2016 list run businesses which combat hackers and cyber crime. Michael Dell, worth $19.8 billion, is planning to make a big splash with his SecureWorks IPO this year.

Gil Shwed is an Israeli programmer, inventor and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder, CEO, and chairman of the board of Check Point, one of the world's largest cybersecurity firms. Schwed is estimated to be worth $2.2 billion. Marius Nacht is the co-founder of Check Point who wrote their original source code. Nacht's net worth is $1.7 billion.

How's this for a twist of fate? Market research firm Gartner estimated global spending on IT security at approximately $75 billion for 2015 -- which coincidentally is equal to Bill Gates' net worth.

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